Top EU legal adviser sides with Google in right to be forgotten case

January 11, 2019
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A chief adviser to judges at Europes highest court sided with Google today in advising that Europes “right to be forgotten” rule be limited to the European Union.

Google and Frances privacy regulator CNIL have been in a battle at the European Court of Justice over whether the regions tough data protection standards and its right to be forgotten — according to which individuals can force search engines to delete certain links on them — should be applied globally.

In its non-binding opinion issued Thursday, the ECJs advocate general said “search requests that are made outside the territory of the European Union should not be subject to the de-referencing of search results.”

The advocate general goes on to say that the right to be forgotten should be “balanced” against the publics “legitimate interest” in accessing information, and that search engines should not be compelled to take down all content linked to the request, but only those available in the country where the request originated.

The final decision expected later this year will determine if national governments and local agencies have the authority to apply their own standards to the rest of the world, or whether the global internet remains above legal challenges from any individual country.

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